Below is part three of a three-part series of excerpts from Dr. Erica Brown’s introduction to In the Narrow Places: Daily Inspiration for the Three Weeks To view the first excerpt, please visit: In Narrow Places: Part I To view the second excerpt, please visit: In Narrow Places: Part II Dr. Brown is one of

Below is part two in a three-part series of excerpts from Dr. Erica Brown’s introduction to In the Narrow Places: Daily Inspiration for the Three Weeks To view the first excerpt, please visit: In Narrow Places: Part I Shabbat Shalom will feature the last excerpt next week. Dr. Brown is one of the foremost Jewish

The Mishnah (Ta’anit 25b) says that once the month of Av begins, during the Nine Days, we have to reduce our joy. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 551:2) rules according to the Rishonim who interpret this rule as meaning that we may not engage in business, build items that bring us pleasure or make preparations

The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 551:16) records a custom practiced by Ashkenazim of not bathing or showering during the Nine Days, from Rosh Chodesh of the month of Av until the end of the Tisha B’Av mourning. Rav Moshe Soloveichik explained the custom as follows: When someone’s relative dies, there are three periods of mourning

Fast days, with the exception of Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av, begin in the morning. Does that mean we can enjoy ourselves the night before? In particular, the Three Weeks, with the custom in memory of the destruction of the Temple of refraining from having parties, begin on Shivah Asar B’Tammuz. If the fast of

The three weeks between the seventeenth of Tammuz and Tisha b’Av, between the anniversary of the breach of the wall of Yerushalaim and the anniversary of the destruction of the Mikdash, are a period of mourning. But this time is also considered a period of special danger: “Caution is needed from the 17th of Tammuz